Introduction:

The main drawback of enzymatic biodiesel production is biocatalyst high prices. Fermented solids with lipase activity use mitigates costs, but being a set of lipase enzymes, the best reaction conditions are unknown.

Objective:

To determine the best conditions for particle size, stirring speed and ethanol / oil molar ratio, for the reaction to produce ethyl esters, using Jatropha curcas oil and ethanol as substrates and, as a biocatalyst, a fermented solid with activity lipase.

Materials and Methods:

Two biocatalysts were initially contrasted. The stirring speed, the particle size and the alcohol / oil molar ratio were studied in the transesterification reaction. The reaction products were measured by high performance thin layer chromatography.

Results and Discussion:

Rhizopus homothallicus fermented solid was selected as biocatalyst, with an activity of 75.39 IU gMS -1 and a high productivity of 4.19 IU gMS -1 h-1. It was established that the diffusional mass transfer resistances were minimized, using 200 rpm and a particle sizes range of 0.149 to 0.297 mm. It was found that for 3:1 and 4:1 molar ratio, there are no significant differences in conversion degree, reaching 77.69 % of conversion. However, for 6:1 ratio, the conversion was affected, due to enzyme inhibition processes.

Conclusions:

It was considered that used biocatalyzer under the established reaction conditions has a good potential to be used in biodiesel synthesis.

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